'Oy' offers something for all
. • 'SafiST• . JW&L. ’ r- ' •
„ The Klezmonauts ~
“Oy. to the World!: A Klezmer
Christmas”
Satire Records
Grade: B
So, you’re sitting around with
friends this holiday season, and you
get the urge to play some Christmas
music.
Unfortunately for your urge,
some of your friends are Jewish,
some don’t believe in Jesus, and some
just think Christmas music is boring,
cliched and has nothing new to offer.
Well, an album has come along
that can satisfy everyone in the room:
It’s “Oy to the World!” by the
Klezmonauts.
The Klezmonauts specialize in
klezmer music, which is a genre that
combines traditional Jewish music
and jazZ. The klezmer scene is pretty
evenly divided-between Jewish and
black musicians, and the music usual
ly jumps from style to style with ease.
The Klezmonauts are equally
adept at slipping from one genre to
another, and they have set their sights
on traditional Christmas music. What
would make a bunch of Jewish men
and women perform Christmas
songs? The liner notes explain:
“The clash of seemingly incon
gruous forces can produce surprising
and, sometimes, brilliant results. In
fact, were it not for the random colli
sion of some wholly unrelated gases a
few billion years ago, where would
any of us be now?
“With this in mind, the
Klezmonauts - Paul Libman’s band
of intrepid musical explorers - go
forth and discover that mysterious
place where Christmas music, with
its warm sentimentality, meets
Klezmer music, and its dark-tinged
festivity. ...”
The songs on “Oy” are largely
instrumental, taking the Jesus out and
leaving the melody in. The songs end
up sounding like traditional Jewish
tunes, bar mitzvah music and jazz
standards instead of the Yuletide
songs they are.
There’s also a little rock ‘n’ roll,
classical and film score music thrown
into the mix, too.
“Little Drummer Boy” is played
very traditionally until the drum solo
kicks in, turning the almost somber
carol into the Surfaris’ “Wipe Out”
for a few bars. Then, the guitars break
into some Dick Dale-like surf tones
before reverting back to the original
melody.
The Klezmonauts roast some
classic rock chestnuts over an open
fire when they play a few bars from
“Smoke on the Water” in the middle
of “Good King Wenceslas.”
The best Christmas genre-man
gling occurs on “God Rest Ye Merry
Gentleman,” when the band plays the
melody spaghetti-western style, com
plete with Spanish guitars, accordion
and a few snatches from Ennio
Morricone’s score for “The Good, the
Bad and the Ugly.” Blue Note jazz
musician Fareed Haque guests on
guitar.
Two tracks feature vocals. “Santa
Gey Gezunderheit” is a polka-fla
vored waltz about a Jewish man
who’s glad he doesn’t have Santa
Claus’job. “Jingle Bells” is given the
full klezmer treatment, with all the
vocals sung in Yiddish.
The album is humorous, but the
level of musicianship keeps “Oy to
the World” novelty-free. The two
most accomplished tracks, “Carol of
the Bells” and “Away in a Manger,”
are beautiful hybrids of classical and
jazz, with a weeping violin carrying
the melody.
“Oy to the World” is a diverse,
accomplished and fun album for
Jews, Christians and anyone who
likes good music.
- Josh Kmuter
Crosby a Christmas mainstay
Bing Crosby
“The Very Best Of Bing Crosby
Christmas”
MCA/Decca Records
Grade: A
*
When it comes to Christmas
music, one name almost always
comes to mind.
No, it’s not the Chipmunks, Dork.
I’m talking about the timeless
sounds of Bing Crosby - a man whose
voice was so smooth and warm, it
continues to set the tone for Christmas
year after year.
Recently, MCA and Decca
records released yet another Bing
Crosby Christmas album, this one
titled “The Very Best of Bing Crosby
Christmas.” With 18 quality record
ings of Crosby’s many versions of
Christmas classics, the name is quite
fitting.
Despite having recorded his first
Christmas carols in 1935, Crosby’s
voice carries a class and tradition that
modem artists-such as Mariah Carey
and 98° simply can’t capture. With
Crosby’s voice, you can almost hear
the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
With Mariah Carey and 98°, you just
hear the seeping saline of a faulty
boob job or the doofus mumbling of a
frat boy praying for a Porsche this
year.
That’s just not Christmas.
Not only does “The Very Best Of
Bing Crosby Christmas” have a large
number of traditional carols, includ
ing “It’s beginning to look a lot like
Christmas,” “Adeste Fideles,” “Silent
Night” and “Silver Bells,” it includes
some of Crosby’s more lively and con
temporary songs as well. Tunes such
as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is
Coming To Town” blend seamlessly
with Crosby’s more somber tones.
While the selection of any
Christmas compilation is important,
the quality of the actual recordings
should not be overlooked. This collec
tion excels in that area by including a
new transfer to CD of Crosby’s rendi
tion. of Irving Berlin’s “White
Christmas” from the 1942 film
“Holiday Inn.”
The original recording of “White
Christmas” has been damaged by
excessive wear to the point that trans
ferring it onto CD format is impossi
ble. However, a better quality com
mercial pressing became available
and was used on “The Very Best of
Bing Crosby Christmas.”
Throughout his career, Crosby
was responsible for well over 40 dif
ferent Christmas recordings, and “The
Very Best Of Bing Crosby Christmas”
is a great package of his best work.
It comes as yet another heartfelt
gift from a man who already gave
Christmas so much.
' -Jason Hardy
Vandals' holiday
a tasteless treat
The Vandals
“Christmas with the Vandals -
Oi to the World!”
Kung Fu Records
Grade: B
Merry Christmas, here’s a gun.
If this sounds like the type of
Yuletide cheer you’d like to spread
this holiday, maybe you should
spend Christmas with the Vandals.
The notorious punk band
responsible for albums such as
“Live Fast Diarrhea” and “Hitler
Bad, Vandals Good” released a
Christmas album in 1996. The
album, “Oi to the World,” explores
the more dysfunctional side of
everybody’s favorite holiday.
Despite being 3 years old, many
of the themes on the album still have
a place under the tree for a country
heading toward total annihilation in
the year 2000. Songs such as
“Grandpa’s Last Xmas” and “My
First Xmas As a Woman” push the
level of tastelessness to the edge.
Then, songs such as “Christmas
Time for my Penis” and “Hang
Myself From the Tree” kick it right
into the abyss of disgusting stupidi
ty.
Aside from a rewed up cover of
“Here I Am Lord,” the album fea
tures 12 Vandals originals about
Christmas and its many detractions.
“Thanx For Nothing” explores
those awkward moments when you
buy someone a gift, and they don’t
get you squat. Lines such as “You
shouldn’t have, oh - you didn’t” and
“So I’m a sap, under the Christmas
tree, trying to find the gifts you got
for me, but there was nothing there”
illustrate a pain we’ve all felt. Or
maybe it’s just me.
“Nothing’s Going to Ruin My
Holiday” takes the Clark W.
Griswald approach to song writing
and starts out with an enthusiastic
yell, “This is going to be the best
Christmas ever!” but ends with
“And if you try to ruin my holiday,
I’ll punch you in your fat, disgust
ing, turkey-eating face. Understand
me?” Sadly, I think many
Americans do.
It's funny, in a
sick, 'Ha, ha, I
wish I'd never
heard that' type of
way.... It just
makes you want to
be a good person."
Musically, the album is typical
Vandals. For the most part, songs
are fast with tempo changes into
slow, sing-songy parts with little
distortion. Of course, layered into
the power chords and Gatling gun
style of Josh Freese’s drumming are
sounds of jingle bells, violins and
other typically Christmas sounds,
such as a crying baby Jesu>s. How
cute.
In terms of providing that warm
snuggling by the fireplace and
drinking eggnog feel, “Oi to the
World” probably isn’t the right
choice. It’s funny, in a sick, “Ha, ha,
I wish I’d never heard that” type of
way, and musically it’s got some
catchy numbers, but more than any
thing, it just makes you want to be a
good person.
Ultimately, “Oi to the World” is
worth buying if you’re a Vandals
fan. If you’re not a Vandals fan, find
a Vandals fan and listen to their
copy.
The low-brow sophomoric
humor that runs rampant on “Oi to
the World” is, in essence, like taking
a break from the family Christmas
dinner to go potty in your high
school boys locker room and hear
ing O’Doyle teil a few jokes. It’s a
good time, but it makes the turkey
taste so much better when you get
back to the warm confines of your
family.
-Jason Hardy